


Vanity Fair

by Phrenotobe



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Ain't no party like a Gatsby party, Crossdressing, F/F, Updates as they happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 10:46:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3725896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phrenotobe/pseuds/Phrenotobe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the second time in a night, Maribelle gives Say'ri a long, careful look from head to toe.<br/>"It does bring out your positive attributes, despite being rather... transgressive." she says, "If you'll excuse me, I must circulate." </p>
<p>or, Say'ri wears white tie to the noble's summer party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vanity Fair

**Author's Note:**

> The image that inspired this can be found [here](http://phrenotobe.tumblr.com/post/116155540896/heres-the-lineart-and-colours-by-itself-because-i).

"There is a dress in the car if you need-"  
"Nay, this is what I want."  
Yen'fay's hand lands on Say'ri's shoulder to brush off specks of dust, resting a moment overlong. They share a look, the lines of his face deeper in the lamp over the doorway's light as he frowns.  
"Do not stay if your company is hostile-"  
"I won't."  
"-Do not take of anything you believe to be unlawful-"  
"Do you think me such a person, Yen'fay?" Say'ri rejoins with exasperation.  
Yen'fay breathes a heavy sigh, his hands slipping into his pockets as he gives Say'ri another look up and down.  
"I've tried my best," he says, gesturing to his bow tie. Say'ri tweaks at her own.  
"I am sure none will mention a lack," she says, guileless, "I have reached my majority without concern."  
Yen'fay nods, straightening his back. Say'ri's attitude follows his, and she tugs her cuffs.  
"This gathering is big enough that I may not always know where you are," he says slowly, ushering her in front of himself as they move toward the doors, "Pray, just be careful."

The doors open silently, assisted by two quiet men, and the hall behind it is arrestingly grand. A staircase curls wide, chandelier lit with electric light that mocks the illumination of candles. Small clusters of people murmur quietly to themselves, some already with drinks in hand.  
"Darling!" comes a call from the left - a group of people split violently at the exclamation, a pair of women breaking free to greet the newcomers. Yen'fay manages to vanish, leaving Say'ri to make their acquaintance.  
"Hello!-" the shorter of the two starts, before the other one cuts in like a viper strike, "I don't think we've met."  
Say'ri nods, as Yellow reaches to tug on her sleeve, eager to look at her cufflinks. Pink allows a half second of confusion before continuing onward, a practised smile that edges on a smirk.  
"Such a pleasure to see you here," she says, offering a hand.  
"It is a pleasure to be here, Lady Maribelle," Say'ri replies, dipping her head as though to kiss it.  
Maribelle holds still in the game of chicken, though the kiss she recieves is mostly air. "Lady Lissa," she adds with a flourish, indicating the girl in yellow at Maribelle's side.  
Lissa looks fairly harmless - a pretty dress with adolescent frills and a matching fan dangling from her wrist, folded and ignored, an echo of Maribelle's lavish dress to match while Maribelle herself has a waist held tight by whalebone. It creaks on the edge of hearing as she leans.  
"I hope tonight finds you well," Say'ri says formally, fighting a smile from showing itself on her face.  
"As well as can be said for the time of year," Maribelle says, "And your outfit really is quite striking. What made you decide upon such a thing?" Maribelle says, letting Lissa surge forward again, off to a new visitor.  
Say'ri's hand puts to her waist for another short bow, polite as always.  
"A thing? 'tis only a set of formal clothes to be worn as I wish. Does it suit me, my lady?"  
For the second time in a night, Maribelle gives Say'ri a long, careful look from head to toe.  
"It does bring out your positive attributes, despite being rather... transgressive." she says, "If you'll excuse me, I must circulate."

The open hall is where the crowd most likely to gossip stay, sharing half-truths among the finger foods and inventing the other half with their drinks in hand. Yen'fay catches Say'ri's gaze while in conversation with a young woman, rose-haired and sweet. If anything, he is more nervous than she, but they seem to competing for the title. Say'ri aims for a different door, eager to slip somewhere quiet.  
Inside is nothing more than a peaceable cloakroom, the walls a cosy red-brown and a fire banked in the fireplace. There's a chaise-longue which would ordinarily be a centerpiece, coats thrown over the back and a gentle sigh coming from it, as though the world is tiresome, fundamentally, and the owner of the sigh is in need of a rest, or perhaps a stiff drink. Say'ri dips to lean around the edge of the chaise-longue, as far as her starched waistcoat will let her, while curiosity gets the better of well-trained manners.  
"My lady," she starts, for the person behind it is a lady indeed - dressed in rich, deep red, elvish and dark and beautiful with the points of her ears testament to the line of dragons, or at least heritage thereof. "Do you tire of tonight's events so early?"  
"Just Tiki, if you please," the lady Tiki says firmly, fingers teasing at the ends of her sash, gold rings gleaming in the firelight, "I've had enough of that for this evening."  
"As you wish," Say'ri says, extending a hand with a quirk of the lips, as though she wants to pun but thinks better of it, "Then you can call me Say'ri. Will you do me the honour of being my companion tonight?"  
Tiki stands on her own, placing her hand into the gentle grasp of Say'ri's fingers, and hooking an arm through the crook of their elbow. Rather than follow, she tugs gently to bring Say'ri to her side.  
"Do all of your family dress as penguins do?" she asks.  
"No," Say'ri says, "Though it seems to broadcast my intent."  
"Is it working?" Tiki asks, grinning toothily.


End file.
